Forgotten Shadows
Story Chapter 1 Tazzuk was having quite a good day. Capturing the unsuspecting Toa Zeras with the combined forces of Makuta Grekk and Intor, he strode over to their leader, Fierek, with malice. He smiled, noticing the black blotches of shadow on his red armor, marking the loss of Soulevan, a top-secret Brotherhood Monstrosity lost long ago. He cared little for Dekariax and Blassek, Fierek's fellow Toa companions who wielded both Hydroelectricity and Plasma. With a wave of his clawed hand, Grekk and Intor dragged Blassek and Dekariax out to no doubt be disposed of, leaving Tazzuk alone with Fierek. "Tell me, fire one, may I please talk to Soulevan. I know he's in there," Tazzuk said, holding Fierek's hateful face in his hand. "I'm really interested in finding out how our very costly Brotherhood experiment merged with this... filth. If not, well then, I suppose we'll just wait thirty minutes and see what is left of your friends." Unexpectedly, with a cool whoosh! of cool air, and the dispersement of smoke, Makuta Kryzacs stood towering behind Tazzuk, machine-gun hand firmly placed against his hand. Rolling his eyes, Tazzuk threw Fierek into a tree and turned around to talk to the intruder. "Makuta Tazzuk. We have a contract to keep. It is indeed time for you to join me," Kryzacs said, amused at the timing of his arrival. "Oh really?" Tazzuk said, arms folded. "Can't this wait a bit longer? My minions just have captured some fresh Toa, and I haven't taken life in over an hour! Perhaps another time." Suddenly, two earsplitting shrieks sounded, and Toa Blassek and Toa Dekariax came charging from out of the forest at Tazzuk and Kryzacs. Kryzacs grinned, throwing them both a murderous smile of fear, causing them both to stop dead in their tracks. "You where saying?" Kryzacs said. "Come. It is time for combat. But," walking over towards a large oak tree, Kryzacs grabbed Fierek by the arm. "I have need of this one." "Be my guest," Tazzuk said sarcastically. "We only spent four hours tracking these fools." "Excellant. I will drop you off at our complex at Deremigia, in the Raxes Dimension. I will join you after running some... errands." "What kind of errands?" Kryzacs grinned once again. "The kind that involves me kidnapping a dozen Toa. The first of which I believe is someone you know. Nikra is her name, and like Fierek she has a gift that I'd like to exploit..." Chapter 2 Kylord lay flat on a rock, enjoying himself for the first time in months. Going through several endeavors, including many close encounters with the Brotherhood, Kylord now found himself getting some much needed rest while waiting for Toa Moonstalker to return from her reconnaisance. Next to him was Toa Nikra and five others, enjoying the cool, if not clean, water. Finally, a day devoid of stress seemed to have arrived. That is until he suddenly found himself paralyzed by fear by the towering Makuta Kryzacs, a huge mongrel he tried to forget. Notice the word "tried", for his nightmarish grins are almost unerasable from memory. Laughing, he smacked Kylord from his rock onto the cooling waters, where Kylord awoke as if from a spell. Meanwhile, Kryzacs scooped up Nikra with his one clawed hand hand fired in Kylord's direction with his machine-gun hand. Enraged, Kylord barely noticed the red blast whiz by his head as he acessed hidden energy in his body, slowly transforming into his titan form. Growing steadily, he rose out of the water and matched even Kryzacs's height. "My oh my," Kryzacs said, grasping Nikra even tighter. "They just seem to grow up so quickly, don't they? However, I think I'll be taking this one to go, thank you. Aur revoir, bette!" Kryzacs rose his machine-gun hand in Kylord's direction, with the intention of sending the silver-armored warrior back before teleporting. However, much to Kryzacs's surprise, with one meaty hand, Kylord grapped the machine gun and began to squeeze foen on it, causing the barrel to bend. A few moments later, and Kryzacs's machine gun hand exploded in a raging red inferno of fear, encompassing all. In the chaos, Kryzacs teleported, still holding onto Nikra with one hand. Likewise, Kylord's pained hand latched onto Kryzacs's leg, sure to save his stolen sister. Chapter 3 "Shadow, come on, you have to go." Ceirallen stood amid an emptry courtyard-- well, empty except for himself, Toa Shadow and Rhin. Rhin remained silent, at the exit of the courtyard for the most part while Shadow and Ceirallen bickered away. In all honesty the pair where getting kind of boring to Rhin, who, being a guard in the Society of Great Protecters, often got dealt with these kind of jobs. One would think after so much practice dealing with boredom, Rhin would accept it as normal and eventually get over it. One was wrong, "You made a deal," Ceirallen said, pointing a finger sternly in front of Shadow's face. "The Legion would have killed you and your toa had we not interfered. You needed us then. Now we need you." "No!" Shadow smacked Ceirallen down. "That was just a dream! This is not real! There-there is no Legion of Death. You are but a figment of my imagination. You-you don't exist!" "Really, Shadow, get to grips with yourself." Ceirallen laid his silver metallic hands on both of Shadow's shoulders. "We may not stay here, in this dimension for long, but you can sure as hell bet we watch over it. The Society only appears when it has to, you know that, I explained it last time. I would only come here if I absolutely needed your help." "No. Last time you 'helped' you almost destroyed all life on the entire island. Why should I trust you?" "Why? Why should you trust me?" Ceirallen laughed out loud, before again locking eyes with Shadow. "Your brother is dying. He just dissapeared completely off the grid. We can track them and find where the Legion has taken them, but we need someone with knowledge of how to subdue them without killing them, just in case they are corrupted. Someone on the inside, who experienced many battles with them. Someone like you." "Funny, Protecter. You talk in the plural. Who exactly did your Legion take from me?" Finally, Rhin spoke up, "Toa Nikra and Kylord. Now, if you don't mind, why don't we get a move on? We wasted enough time here so I think its best if we get a move on. Our attack force is getting a little edgy." In a flash of light and smoke, Kylord opened his eyes to see a polished metal floor, and Nikra's limp body dangling from Makuta Kryzacs' claw. Instinctively, he grasped his giant pickaxe available in only his titan form and began to try to hack away at Kryzacs's good arm. In annoyance, Kryzacs swatted Kylord off of his feet with one sweep of his broken machine gun hand and strode away into a brilliant white room lined with toa. Getting up, Kylord found himself roughly grabbed by two red figures, wrenching his weapons from his claws. In an actnof protest, Kylord punched one in the face abd rolled over the other one, sending him into the bright room of uncinscious Toa. To his shock, Kryzacs fixed Nikra into place on an empty chairlike device in the wall, like all of the other sleepung Toa. Immediately, redness flashed through Nikra's eyes until she too was uniformly stiff like her counterparts. Sprinting tlwards Kryzacs, Kylord was about to lunge for his exposed white neck, until abrubtly he slammed into a menacing wall of black armor. Makuta Tazzuk nelt over the fallen Toa, laughing as he raised his age old foe up to his face, a razor sharp blade in the other. For a moment, Kylord finally understood the true meaning of fear. Chapter 4 "This way, Toa Shadow. Watch your step." Toa Shadow stood amid one of the endless barracks in the Society of Great Protecter's Headquarter ship, patiently waiting amid strangers to ascend onto a silvery metal platform that would transport the whole of the group to Kryzacs's lair. True, the Protecters all did have individual transportation machines, but a mass exodus of this nature might prove risky, especially if some Protecters accidentally transported into the same spot. So, the mass transit stations where necessary. Toa Shadow, led by Ceirallen, made his way into the line behind Rhin. Immediately, all Protecters turned around, and Shadow did likewise, to see a shadow toa, Daxanere, leader of the Sciety, before going off. "Protecters." Daxanere raised both hands up. "As you have been informed, this is a rescue mission. Toa Kylord, Nikra, Fierek, Raymond, and Madnetta, among others, have been kidnapped. However, we have also dedected the nature of Kryzacs's base. It is a former space station. Be careful of the destruction you cause there, for one misplaced blow could severe vital systems, killing everyone. Place your blows wisely. That is all. You may now commence the attack." Like one, all eyes except Shadow's averted to the Silver platforms, weapons ready in anticipation for an onslaught. Kylord was slammed in a cold metallic table. Tazzuk held his wrists in place while a strange blue skadki rummaged through intsruments behind him. Finding what he desired, the navy skadki held a wickedly curved scalpel in front of him. "Begone flee," Tazzuk saud to the blue skadki. "He's mine." Offended, the skadki put the scalpel down and placed one clawed hand on the small of Tazzuk's back. Immeduately, 1000 volts of electricity surged through Tazzuk's body, causing his grip on Kylord to loosen, and his nearly unconscious body to slump over onto Kylord. "Now, is that any way to talk to a Lieutenant in the Legion of Death?" casually, the skadki brushed Tazzuk's body aside. "The name's Lectra, by the way. Not 'flee'. Now, I'm just going to run some tests on Mr. Kylord now. Before I make him our slave, of course." In a flash of light, Forty separate parties boarded Kryzacs's floating soace station. Rhin's regiment, aided by Toa Shadow and Ceirallen, slowly made their way up to Kryzacs's chambers, occasionally gunning down a Legion sentry on the way. Slowly, carefully, they made their way outside of the blinding white room lined with Toa. Waiting, guns pointed at the door, a sudden chill went down every Society member's spine. Bursting from the door was Makuta Kryzacs, with a smile so menacing, many Protecters where far too afraid to pill the trigger. Those that did found themselves overwhelmed by returning blasts of fear from Kryzacs's now repaired red machine gun hand. But that was not the most frightening part of the encounter. In dark tinted armor, Kylord stood by Kryzacs's side, hate frozen on his face, with laser gun in his hand. Behind him was Nikra, Fierek, and the rest of Kryzacs's dark slave army. Chapter 5 "This can't be happening." Shadow found himself faced fighting an onslaught of new D-dark toa, noticing sone faces he knew, like Nikra's once kind, gentle face, now twisted into a glare of dark hate. Others, like Toa Fierek and Madnetta he did not recognize, but even from first impressions he could tell they emanated power. However, they where the least of his worries at the moment. The dark metallic figure's foot crushing his back was. Then all of a sudden, the weight was lifted off his back, and he was grasped by familiar claws. Dark Titan Kylord picked up Toa Shadow to whisper into his ear, "Fools. See as these Protecters die, 'brother'. You shpuld've joined us. You cannot hurt us, even if that was your intention. We outpower you by far. Come, Toa Shadow, give in to your inner shadow. It is your namesake after all." Struggling, Shadow managed to wrench Kylord's arm, weakening his grasp just enough so he could release himself. Falling on his feet, Toa Shadow purposefully reached for a taser staff from his pack given to him by the Society. With one fell swoop, the taser staff connected with Titan Kylord's torso, and for a brief moment he reverted to his natural shade, before once again the shadow recovered. Meanwhile, Rhin and Ceirallen where firing rounds of electricity at the dark horde. Although doing little good, it did manage to slow down the horde's progress, and clear the way to hurl a clump of energized protodermis at Kryzacs's head. Screaming, the Makuta tore the chunk off, revealing a pulpy red scar. Next to him, Tazzuk could only chuckle. "Heh heh, need an eyepatch for that, great Makuta Kryzacs?" Tazzuk mockingly remarked. "Oh no," Kryzacs responded. I can see fine. But you should really do something about that broken leg." "What broken--" Like a strike of lightning, Kryzacs's clawed hand grabbed Tazzuk's thigh and in no more than two secinds later, a whet cracking sound signified the shattering of Tazzuk's leg, with a small mist of antidermis escaping. "Damn you, Kryzacs," Tazzuk said. "It'll take me all of two seconds to repair that hole. You forget us real Makuta have no bones, or organic matter for that part. But look, it appears our littke shadow is beggining to wear off. Shall I order Lectra to re-enslave them?" Kryzacs grinned, "No. But you may tell Lectra to dispose of these Society members. These Toa have served their purpose, as have you, Tazzuk. Did you really think this whole mission was about enslaving mere Toa? What would I want with pathetic Toa?" "That makes no sense, all I did was--- take Kylord. But wait, you where about to leave him." "I anticipated him following me. However, I could not just seize him like I did Nikra. I needed some extra help to incapacitate him-- without killing him. And as you have yet to do that, you fit the bill." "So they had something you wanted. What is it?" Immediately, Kryzacs began to dissapear in transportational mist, "Energy. I needed it. A special type of energy. This was just a side-effect." With that, Kryzacs's voice trailed off until he was completely gone. "That bastard," Tazzuk said to himself. "He used me. For a menial task any other brute could've done. The next time I'm going to kill him. I might... if not for the spy he provided for me. Curse you Vice, curse you Kryzacs. Curse you Toa Kylord." Suddenly, each and every one of the dark toa began to fade to their original forms, much to the Protecter's relief. "Now he wants me to kill these Protecters. Better yet," Tazzuk turned to the drowsy Kylord. "Why don't I get rid of you. Yes, I very well think I should do that. Come here you--" Menacingly, Tazzuk raised a sinister blade he borrowed from the Legion of Death, and swung down at Kylord's skull. Just inches away from his head, Tazzuk's vision had turned white, and in another minute he found himself swinging down at the ground, before Makuta Kryzacs at another Legion compound, dumfounded at his stolen vengeance. Chapter 6 Ceirallen and Rhin where busier than they'd ever been in their collective lives. With nothing but a criwded procession of wounded or nearly wounded, very confused Toa plucked from their universes, Ceirallen and Rhin, being the commanding officers on this endeavor, could not find a spare second to themselves. Slowly, groups of six where being transported back to HQ where they would find refuge until they where healthy enough to be returned home, but in a company of nearly fifty Toa, progress was going by painfully slow. Himself bewildered and bored beyond belief, Toa Raymond marched out of the crowded corridor with Toa Fierek, one of the only familiar faces he's seen in the mess of heroes, accompanied by a new friend, Madnetta. Together the three where able to slip by Rhin and Ceirallen's harried gaze. "God, that was something, huh?" Raymond said to no one in particular. "Yes. Yes it was, my friend," Fierek responded. "A little more of something than I had hoped to see. Ah, well at least we are safe. That has to be something." "We are never safe," Madnetta said coldly. "I have not been safe for years, but lo and behold I am alive. Be on your guard. We still don't know what these Legion terrorists have done. There may be mines here." "Yeah, I guess this isn't the smartest place to be," Raymond admitted. "But I just had to talk to Fierek. Privately." Madnetta looked startled. "Oh sorry, do you guys have a thing together? I can leave if I have to." "Don't call it a thing," Raymond said. "We just have... history is all." "Wait," Fierek said. "Do you hear that beeping sound?" One by one, the triumverent all perked their ears up to listen to the obscene beaping sound. In shock, Madnetta recoiled. "Oh my god, they've planted a bomb," Madnetta turned back and ran towards the slightly reduced clearing of Toa, blue and silver armor flashing, flanked by Fierek and Raymond. "Guys! They have rigged a bomb here! Can't we speed this up?" Madnetta said hurredly. "A bomb?" Kylord said. "Where?" "About a hundred feet that way," Fierek said while pointing. "Ok. This is bad. This is very bad," Rhin said. "I'll call in to Headquarters and tell them to ditch the Mass Transit Units. We need the Hyper Transit Units." "You're crazy!" Ceirallen responded. "Those are only experimental and have failed five times out if six. Plus these Toa are too important to waste." "True," Rhin said gravely. "But the Mass Transits are too slow. This one can get us all in one fell swoop. I'm punching in the codes now." "Mata Nui help us." After a couple seconds, all Toa and Protecters dissapeared in a milky white cloud, closely follosed by an ever expanding wall of escaped energy. Rediced now to mere rubble, peace once again entered the space station. * * * "Now Mr. Tazzuk," Makuta Kryzacs said, teeth gleaming down on Tazzuk. "You may wonder why I've brought you here. You may also be wondering why I require some of the life force of Toa. Well, wonder no more, I shall tell you." "If you're just going to go on with a monologue, save your breath, I've heard that enough," Tazzuk said, picking himself off of the floor. "No," Kryzacs said, quite shocked. "I'm just going to... thouroughly convince you that it's beneficial... for your well being.... to continue to be our ally." Tazzuk smirked, "You gave me a spy in Vice. What else did you get me?" "Well, it's not necessarily for you," Kryzacs glared at Tazzuk's feet. "You may know that the Society of Great Protecters HQ is a spaceworthy Supership the size of Mata Nui's head, constructed by the Great Being Condolance. Well, Six months ago, we had a similiar figure construct the Legion a ship of the sane nature, though slightly smaller. The being has currently escaped on a handmade vessel, but he will not evade us oir long. But the vessel he made for us, the Xenon Alamance, is ready, except for one key component. "Life energy. To kickstart the engine we need life energy, and tons of it. Once going, it is capable of creating its own energy, but the start-up is necessary." "So you're telling this to scare me into allegiance?" Tazzuk said. "No puny spacecraft can scare the Master of Death." "Ah, but this is no puny spacecraft. Behold," with that, Kryzacs hands motioned to the roof, outstretched, which as if by cue opened up to reveal a monstrous ship with a ginormous cannon on the nose. "Behold, a vessel capable of destroying Bara Magna, Mata Nui, and even Decrax. Your power has once again been dwarfed, it seems Tazzuk." "No, not dwarfed," Tazzuk said while chuckling. "No. merely doubled." Characters *Kylord (belongs to Kylernuva135) *Grekk (belongs to Kylernuva135) *Intor (belongs to Kylernuva135) *Nikra (belongs to Toa Nikra) *Fierek (belongs to ToaFierek) *Blassek (belongs to ToaFierek) *Dekariax (belongs to ToaFierek) *Kryzacs (belongs to Daxanere1216) *Soulevan (mentioned only, belongs to ToaFierek) *Toa Shadow (belongs to Shadowgear6335) *Lectra (belongs to Daxanere1216) *Moonstalker (blongs to Moonwerewolfofair) *Vice (mentioned only) *Madnetta (belongs to ToaMadnetta) *Raymond (belongs to ironstraken64) *Daxanere (belongs to Daxanere1216) Category:Stories